i can't

believe it.  I really can't.

i went outside

yesterday to check on my strawberry plant and clementine tree.  They were long overdue for water.  I filled my jug and watered the strawberry plant and I nearly screamed.  I had a strawberry!

But wait, what's that little green blob back there?  It's another strawberry!

When Cosme got home I took him out there to see.  In addition to those two, I counted five little nubs on their way to strawberrydom.  I can't wait.  Seven strawberries!  I can almost garnish something!

I think the clementine tree might need a little more support.  It's starting to hunch over.

And I know I've gone on and on about the fence and my newly acquired shade tree but I've never posted any pictures from inside the fence.

I think I like this next version better though.

today's wednesday so

you know what that means.  Day 2 of C25K.  I know it depends on the weather because that cold air hurts when I'm huffing and puffing.

I've also been making changes to the website.  Colors, options and all that jazz.  I like it.

I've had a song in my head.  It's an old song but it was in a commercial the other day and now it's stuck.  When I hear it I envision sitting around and chilling.  Maybe, if it's not too cool for C25K, I can do a little more of the program and then hang out under my shade tree, have a Coke, listen to my iTunes and chill.  Sounds like a good plan to me.

On another note, using the phrase "all that jazz" might have just gotten another song stuck in my head...

i did part of

C25K yesterday.  I started day 1, week 1.  I got almost 12 minutes in but I had to stop for two reasons.  1) The air was cold and it was hurting.  I'm Melanie, not Rocky.  I can't handle that.  2) I had photography on my mind.  A lot of times I zone out when I'm planning or in deep thought.  That was yesterday and C25K was distracting me.  But you know what?  That's okay.  It's like I said yesterday, the exercise isn't going anywhere.  Plus, I stopped for Chinese food yesterday and my fortune cookie told me it was okay.

Also yesterday, I tried something.  A while back I mentioned how Zenfolio, who I have my website set up through, offers a blog to attach to your site.  While I did consider doing what many people do and combine the personal stuff with the business stuff, I'm deciding that's not really me.  I'm a pretty private person.  Sure, I have this blog but let's face it.  I don't push it.  (Have you read the About Me lately?)  I'm not trying to make a buck here.  This is a place to keep up with what's going on.  A journal.  A non-money-making journal...  A non-whoring-out-my-life-story journal...  An abuse-punctuation-how-you-wish journal.  I know it's odd when there are so many out there.  But believe it or not, this girl does it because she likes it, NOT because I'm trying to be the next blog star.  That's not me or what I'm about.  (I'm honestly going somewhere with this.)  So, Zenfolio offers a blog.  I've decided to try it out.  It won't have daily stuff like I've been doing here.  (I've been so consistent and I love it!)  It'll only have Lens Captured pictures with a little writeup.  Most of the time I only display a couple of pictures of an outing or event.  What I have in mind is maybe a picture in the gallery but all on display on the blog.  For example, I have one picture up from someone's portraits but with the blog I might put up 5-10 and fill the reader in on the situation.  It's just a test.  It won't be a daily thing.  It won't be a personal thing.  Heck, it might not even be a permanent thing.  It's a test.  But if you'd like to see how it's going, look HERE.

today is

Monday, the start of a new week, a week later than I'd planned on start C25K, five days after I did a mock start of C25K and, I'm thinking, the day I might really start Couch to 5K.  I'm 40, female and I love sweets.  I figure attempting and bailing at 15 minutes is better than sitting around with no minutes.  (For now, anyway.  My story might change once I get out there.)

For now I need my nourishment.  Lasagna and Coke.  Yes, it's 7:30 in the morning but I can eat lasagna at any hour.  It's one of those dishes for me.  Plus, we have so much food in the refrigerator that needs to be eaten.  We have grilled chicken breasts, roast, fried chicken breasts from last night, almost a whole dish of mashed potatoes from yesterday and then there's the lasagna.  I'm not cooking until some of that has been eaten.  But wow, we have so many mashed potatoes.  I bought a 10 pound bag, knowing we never finish one of those.  I made a few baked potatoes the other day, mashed potatoes yesterday, roasted a pan of potatoes and peppers for this week's breakfasts and baked another few yesterday for anything else that might pop up.  Potato, anyone?

I did engagement pictures of my cousin and her fiance last Sunday.  They picked one and ordered their "Save the Dates".  I know the notices came in over the weekend so I'm sure she'll mail those this week.  As soon as she does, I'll wait a few days and then post a few pics on the website and FB page.

Now I'm off to finish my lasagna and decide whether or not it's too cold to start C25K.  (It's not like it's going anywhere.)  Also, I'll always have a new caftan to hide under.  (Yes, not only did my mother talk me into getting it but she also got some for herself.)

i was flipping through

the ads and coupons that come in the mail.  One of the ads was for a caftan.  This one to be specific. 

 
I really like it.  Sure, it reminds me of Mrs. Roper from Three's Company a little but I like it.  I figure I'd be okay as long as I don't get a perm and start calling Cosme "Stanley".

I pulled it up online and was reading the details.  It's 100% polyester.  That makes me cringe a little more than wanting to buy clothes that remind me of Mrs. Roper.  But you know what?  The more I look at it, the more I think I want it.  So it might look like Mrs. Roper but guess what.  Certain styles always make their way back.  I mean the maxi dresses have made their way back and so have chukka boots.  It's not like I'd wear it around town, just at home.  If I wear it around the house, it'll make me feel like there's a pool in the backyard.  I don't know.  On the plus side, I could always be Mrs. Roper for Halloween.

While I was looking around on that website, I also found these things.

I like to refer to arm warmers as "sleeves".  And for those rare occasions when my arm warmers aren't enough and I feel as though I need a "hand warmer", I have these things called "gloves".  I'm pretty sure they'll catch on one day.

my intentions were

good but I just can't say the same for my oomph.

A while back I talked to a friend on FB.  She was doing the whole Couch to 5k program.  For anyone that's not familiar, it's designed to make runners out of couch potatoes in a matter of weeks.  (I think 8 or 9)  Anyway, it sounds doable.  It's only three days a week and for someone who hasn't run since PE in junior high, it sounds like the ticket.  The first day is a 5 minute walking warm up then for the next 20 minutes, it's a rotation of 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking.  It ends, I'm guessing, with a 5 minute cool down walk because it's a total of 30 minutes.  So I've been considering this for a while but I didn't want to go to an open track or anywhere alone.  When the fence entered the equation, I figured that would be perfect.  I would do it in the backyard.  I was going to start on Monday to keep my schedule lined up but got busy.  When Wednesday came, I figured I'd just get out and do it.

Yesterday I came home from pictures in West Columbia and got all ready to go.

I tried.  This is how far I got.  (Oh, and the cool thing is you can play your own music and a lady chimes in and tells you when it's time to change between walking and jogging.)  Not long after she told me I'd reached the halfway point, I pretty much said "screw it" and went to lie under my "new" shade tree.

I'll probably try it again.  In honor of my attempt, I'll play the video for the song I was listening to when I most recently realized that running sucks.



In related news, my knee feels ten different ways of jacked up.

we were under

a severe thunderstorm warning until 5:30 this morning.  I don't know how that's going because I'm only getting my news from Facebook.  This was our cloudy sunrise this morning, which looks totally different from the picture I had on Instagram with my phone.  (But then there was a whole three minutes in between the two and I didn't adjust any settings on the camera.)

Today I need to go to West Columbia for pictures and I'm hoping that rain doesn't come, as much as I'd like for it to rinse all the pollen off the cars.  In the meantime, I think I'll bake some bread.

so when we

were on vacation, I asked for someone to send me pictures of the fence.  My aunt emailed me a few.  I've probably never mentioned it, okay, maybe I have mentioned it a few hundred times (as if it wasn't obvious already) but I'm a worrier.  So my aunt sends me a couple of pictures.  Here's one.

Oh, not only am I a worrier but I also LOVE jumping to conclusions.  So not only was I worried about the gap at the bottom of my fence but I just knew they weren't going to give me a gate.  Anyway, I'd paid them half and the other half was to be paid upon completion.  I wasn't here when they finished so I told them when I'd be back so they could come by to collect their check.  We hurried home to inspect the fence before they got here.  It was complete with gate and all... even a big gap at the bottom.  I found a couple of other things that needed attention and let the man know when he got here.  We left for our concert and I figured he would call me back the next day with their plans of coming to fix my short list.  I was wrong.  Driving home the next morning and never getting the call I'd expected, I knew I'd need to call them when I got home.  Guess what.  We pulled up in the driveway later that morning and the fence was finished.

Now, for the thing I don't get.  Remember how I tried to contact the neighbors three times?  Ends up, according to the fence guys who heard it from the neighbor's yard guy, they were happy with it.  Now, if you think for one second I'm coming up with a few different "real" stories in my head and over analyzing them, you are 100% correct.

For the record, I think it's from a song but the whole "99 problems and (fill in the blank) ain't one" saying is slowly becoming my motto.  (At least I'm working really hard at it.)  In this case, it's "the neighbors".  We came home and enjoyed our privacy.  On our vacation we picked up a couple of wooden paddles and a ball.  I don't know if it'd be considered beach tennis minus the net or paddle ball or what.  Either way, this whole strip of land that once would never have been used was spent with us, Eric and a couple of Eric's friends playing that game.  The end.

as we were driving

down the highway the other day, I was looking for bluebonnets.  I didn't have to look far because they were all over the place but I was looking for a safe spot to pull over and take pictures.  It was foggy and the roads were hilly.  I found a straight stretch of road and thought that it'd probably be safe enough to pull over.  I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a hearse behind me.  I considered that a sign and kept on.  I finally found a little road to turn on but there weren't many flowers.  I got what I could.

I tried.

Now I've got to try to catch up.  I have about 37 things going on right now and I'm so tired.  If I sit here too long I feel like I might never get up.

i'm back

from the little trip I mentioned.  We went to Puerto Rico.  We like the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort.  We stayed there last time but instead of only staying a few days and then the rest of the time in San Juan, we stayed at Rio Mar the whole week.  We landed, picked up our rental car and headed out to the hotel (which isn't too far from San Juan, 30 minutes maybe).  We checked in and found out our room was on the first floor.  Wait, photography is my thing and I'm in a hotel with the beach on one side and the rainforest (El Yunque) on the other.  If there's one thing I knew I didn't want, it was a room on the first floor.  They did some searching and found a spot for us on the seventh floor.  In my reservation, I requested a rainforest view since I knew we probably weren't heading over there but spending all of our time on the beach.  I ended up with an ocean view.  I didn't complain.

(The view from our balcony the first morning.)

The first morning Cosme wanted to go for a run and asked me to come down to the beach while he ran.  He sent me a text when he got down there letting me know chairs were already out for me to sit on.  This is where the vacation took a wrong turn.  I messed up in a big way.  It was early, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and I figured we'd be right back to the room in an hour.  If I could rethink and redo that moment, I would.  Instead of putting my usual Hawaiian Tropic tanning lotion with sunscreen, I used some Australian Gold accelerator.  UGH!  I had a long dress on over my swimsuit but we sat on the chairs and I pulled my dress up some, exposing my shins.  FYI, it might be cloudy in Puerto Rico one minute but in 15 minutes, the clouds are usually gone and your left with a sunny day.  That said, three hours later or so we headed back to the room.  By that evening I was SORE.  By the next morning I could barely walk.  I limped most of our trip.  I learned my lesson the hard way.  Burned shins are NOT fun.

I won't give a long detailed play by play.  A week at the beach explains it all.  Here are some pictures I took.

(I just wanted to try and get the colors... notice I said TRY.  The blues are SO blue and the greens are SO green.)

(We went across the highway to a little town at the bottom of the rainforest called Palmer, I think.  I saw a souvenir shop online and knew I wanted to go.  I took this pic when we were walking down the street to another shop.)

(This was on a day trip that Cosme and I made to San Juan.  There's another picture posted here.)

(This is a shot of the beach at Rio Mar on our last night.)

That was our trip.

ps- The fence is up.

the fence should be

completed today.  The posts were set yesterday and they came exactly where I wanted them, only taking out one bush on the side.

I'll run out and take a pic before they get here.  If the neighbor's yard guy doesn't have a push mower, he won't be able to get between their air conditioner and my fence.  I don't even think that will work.  He might just need the weed eater.  I don't know.

In other news, I have so much to do today and am so far behind.  I've told myself that I can do this post but then I have to get busy.  You know how I'm the person that usually has lists within lists within lists to prepare for things?  I've got nothing.  You know how I'm the person that whether taking a weekend or week long trip, needs a folder with maps, reservations, directions, etc?  I've got nothing.  We're going on a little trip and I'm so far behind.  The good news is I washed my shoes and they're almost dry.

Looking at all the strings hanging off my shoes reminds me of my grandmother.  When I was young and Dodo still had her mind, I always felt like she was obsessed with trimming strings off things.  She could always spot a string hanging off something.  Not only could she always spot a string hanging off something of mine, but she always happened to have a pair of scissors with her.  It's like she was on string patrol or something.  Her going to trim one string off something usually turned into an inspection for more strings that needed trimming.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't think my grandmother was crazy but she didn't really like strings.  Speaking of which, I should probably go trim some of the strings off my shoes now.

today's the day

the posts will be set.  I called the fence company yesterday.  The city never told them the green tag was issued... blah, blah, blah.  Anyway, they're coming today.  Yesterday a guy knocked on the door.  He was in a uniform and had his truck parked out front.  If I didn't have so much stuff going on, I more than likely wouldn't have answered the door.  (Similar to my neighbors...)  He said he was there to check for utility lines and asked for access to the back yard and if any dogs were back there.  (I should also mention I noticed little red flags placed along the back fence line earlier.)  He went on back and during this time Cosme's texting me for fence updates.  "Where are they?"  "Have they started?"  I already told him about the red flags so I thought I'd add that a guy just came to the door wanting to check our backyard for utility lines.  I was already being vague and thought I'd mess around with him.

At this point I was laughing really hard because I could imagine what was going through his head. Yes, I know there are plenty of companies that use Acme but I also know what Cosme thinks of when he hears Acme.  He also knows how I am with situations like this and how I normally don't even answer the door.  After this came "Acme????? Like in Looney Tunes??????"  I followed with "I don't know.  I don't ever watch that."  I finally told him I was kidding and told him what the company was really called.

As for the neighbors, I went back over and they still didn't answer.  Same thing happened again.  Not long after I left, they drove away.  And for the icing on this cake, their yard guy came yesterday and mowed as if there weren't fence posts sticking out of the ground.  I was watching as he did several laps around my tree.  Whatever.  Next time he'll have to open the gate to have access.

i know i've

been going on and on about the fence and maybe seeming a little dramatic about the property line in relation to the neighbor's house.  Yesterday the fence guys came out to measure exactly where the property line is and put the corner posts in for the city to approve.  The city came out and gave me a green tag so I'm guessing the next step is to set those posts and build me a fence.  Anyway, back to the property line.  I went to the post along the back fence and looked straight ahead to the street.  (Remember, the property line does slant inward towards my house.  I'll reintroduce this picture as exhibit A for reference.)

Here's standing from that back point

You can see the front post way up there, 105' to be exact.  See how I'm standing behind the neighbor's house?  That's what all the fuss was about.  See how that tree did end up being on my property?  It shouldn't be any problem as far as the fence is concerned.  I went next door yesterday to let them know we're putting a fence up on the property line.  They didn't answer.  Thirty minutes later their car was gone.  I'm assuming they see the post since it's RIGHT THERE NEXT TO THEIR HOUSE and has a bright green sticker on it.  I might go back over there again this morning, I just don't know.

In case anyone is wondering, my fence will come to the house in between those two front windows.  Actually, I'm thinking it'll be closer to the front window.  (FYI, each time I just tried to type window, it first came out as winder.  That's definitely not how I'm pronouncing in my head.)

So this is an update on the fence.  Let's hope it's smooth sailing from here.

my clementine tree

has held up through the windy days we've had.  I think it's had a little luck.

The strawberries are doing fine too, thank you for asking.

Sometimes I get on a roll and I just have to go with it.  I made cream horns on Saturday.  I love cream horns.  I used my molds for the first time and I also used my cannoli molds for the first time too.  I had horns and tubes and the great part was, they were so much smaller than last time (or even store bought, at that), that when you had one it was only a couple of bites.  Store bought cream horns are about 5 inches long and probably 2 inches in diameter.  When you want some, you think you can just cut off a little bite.  Before you know it you feel guilty because you've eaten the whole thing.  Not these.  These smaller versions made eating a whole pastry not feel so wrong.  (Well, until you've had three...)  So I started off the weekend with cream horns (oh yeah, I also baked a sheet cake for church on Friday) and last night I finished it off with pizza.  I was happy.  And between getting these pictures from my phone to the computer and starting this post, I already had to pull it out and have a piece.

Here are the remains of the pepperoni.

And here's the pepperoni, mushroom and bell pepper as it came out of the oven.  If I stare too long, I'll have to break down and get another piece.  I WILL NOT STARE.

Okay.  Maybe just a little sliver of a piece will do it.  Maybe that and a cream horn?